


And Gabriel Decided to Let Go

by The_Female_Gaymer



Series: Overwatch Works [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 14:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12014289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Female_Gaymer/pseuds/The_Female_Gaymer
Summary: A summary of why they fell apart.





	And Gabriel Decided to Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> This is more reflecting my relationship than theirs. A vent fic, if you will. I don't actually think this is how it happened, but... this pairing is what lead me to a wonderful relationship that I couldn't stay in, for the same reason I gave Gabriel.
> 
> I could have wrote this with any pairing. But Reaper76 holds special meaning.
> 
> Unedited. Unbeta-ed. I wrote it, I didn't read over it. It exists now.

Gabe decided to let go.

They met in a complex deep in the earth, with too few other volunteers that continued to diminish monthly, then weekly, then daily. They clung to each other, first to cope, then for fun, and then because they actually found they  _ needed  _ each other. Gabe came to admire his smile, his golden boy laugh, the happy little hum that was trademark of the other man.

And Jack… Jack caved because of his eyes. The shape of his nose, the slight crook of his teeth. The way Gabriel called him beautiful, because God, he was. Jack was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Perfect.

Gabe should have seen that first red flag, and ran.

When Jack decided to fly the wounded home, even when he was seizing up. He left the front lines while Gabriel worried himself sick, wondering how the  _ hell  _ Jack could think to do such a thing, with how the odds were stacked against him. And then, Jack came out of nowhere when Gabriel was certain his squadron was going down, taking out any remaining threats.

He should have seen it as the first sign. He was relieved, instead.

Gabe decided to let it go.

During the Crisis, Gabe and Jack were separated, without knowing where the other was going. Gabe thought he would be fine. He worked well enough without Jack before. He could lead now.

He was so, so wrong.

His performance suffered. His soldiers were dying. Ana helped, but only a little. He needed Jack. He figured, after then, he always would.

When they reunited, they came together in a crash. Nothing could keep them apart when the Crisis ended. Everyone knew how they felt. Everyone knew the way they looked at each other. The raw, powerful emotion.

Gabe decided to let it go.

When Jack was made Strike Commander… Gabriel was ecstatic. It was the best day of both of their lives. So much progress made. Dreams achieved. Lives saved. Blackwatch was just a scratch in the face of such a momentous victory. Gabriel didn’t mind the long shifts, the nights he stayed up for Jack’s sake.

That was before he realized how Jack worked.

Power made Jack slothful. His stress was a front. Yes, the greys in his hair were real, and the pounds he put on were the same no matter the scale, but his workload was no where near what he claimed it to be. His absences were unexplained, and if they were, they were unreasonable. Only Gabe seemed to notice.

Maybe he’s just lost sight of what we are fighting for. Maybe he just needs the right push, was Gabriel’s first thought.

And at first, it seemed to work. Suggestions were made, and Jack agreed to them, and Gabe trusted him to do the right thing.

Gabriel trusted blindly. Wrongfully.

For a while, Gabe decided to let it go.

That was before Jack began to cry out to the public.

“It’s a struggle, to lead this organization.”

“The work is hard, but I am doing my best.”

“I can’t be expected to meet every expectation.”

Some of those things  _ were  _ true. But Gabe also knew about the spending. Gabe knew about the lounging around, and doing nothing. Gabe knew about the falsified injuries, or the ones he exaggerated. Gabe knew about the mental health problems Jack refused to address or fix.

Gabe continued to make suggestions. Jack continued to do nothing at all.

“I’m going at my own pace. You can’t push me.”

Gabe knew he was capable of better. Gabe  _ knew  _ Jack wasn’t giving it his all.

_ That  _ was what was starting to break him.

_ That  _ was what started the fights.

Gabriel began to separate himself. Because what else could he do? Jack wasn’t listening to him. The distance helped keep him calm.

But when you build your life around someone you love, you see the foundations of it everywhere.

When they came together on their hobbies, they were fine. They laughed, they shared their love with one another. They danced under a bright moon in crystal light and held one another close. When they came together to love, they loved well.

Gabriel knew it was the beginning of the end when even  _ that  _ began to fall apart.

The last time Jack neglected his duties and blamed it on someone else, Gabe left him. Confessed he’d been considering it for a long time. It killed him inside that Jack didn’t fight him on it.

They tried again not three days later. Four days after that, Jack left Gabe hanging at the restaurant where they first fell in love.

Gabe asked Jack about it. Explained how it hurt him.

Jack screamed at him.

And that was it.

Somehow, Gabe decided to let it go.

Why? After all that time, the struggle and the strife, the love and the worship, why, after all that time, would he decide to just let it go?

Because he fought for years. He fought, so hard, to help Jack change for the better. His life experiences, from living in urban LA, were better than farmboy Jack Morrison’s. He knew what would help him. He knew what would help the  _ both  _ of them. He knew the way to save their relationship, and to save Overwatch

Gabriel could not stand by, and watch Jack destroy himself and his organization.

If Jack would not listen to him, Gabriel would listen to himself. And his heart knew he had to get away, before he destroyed himself in his worry.

Gabe decided to let it go.

And so he, Ana, and Jack all stood, side by side, pondering their past, their present, their future. Jack would only listen to Director Petras, and the Director said to stay put. Of course Jack would listen to that. Even as people and Omnics alike were dying in the streets, the very foundations of humanity, Jack decided to sit by.

Gabriel stood, and walked away. They asked him where he was going.

Gabe just shrugged.

“I’m not the one with the statue.”

Maybe it would be the wakeup call Jack needed.

**Author's Note:**

> And it was hard and maybe even a little scary, but Gabe was happier.


End file.
